Metric Type
| Service: | Service Desk |
| Type: | Unit Cost |
| Timescale: | Monthly |
| Ease Of Collection: | Medium |
| Informational Value: | Medium |
What Does It Say?
Service Desk Cost Per User Per Month calculates the cost of the Service Desk for each user. A simple financial approach would see this as a cost which should be reduced if possible. However a broader view will also take into account the cost of not helping the user. See Dangers & Pitfallsbelow.
What Is High Performance?
| Red | Yellow | Green | Yellow | Red |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| €30 | €25 | €20 | €15 | €10 |
Source: Metripedia Opinion.
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How Is It Calculated?
Take: Service Desk Cost Per Month
Divide by: Number Of Service Desk Users
How Easily Can It Be Compared?
Medium. It is quite quick to take the costs of the Service Desk cost-centre, and to divide it by the number of employees. But variations of 20% or more may occur if:
- there are many different Service Desks using different cost-centres
- Service Desks do not have their own cost-centre, but share one with other teams
- Some costs are not recorded directly to the Service Desk cost centre, but allocated elsewhere. Common examples are:
- Office space
- Telephone and data network charges
- Depreciation and/or leases for IT assets such as PCs, servers, and ACDs
How Frequently Should It Be Reported?
Either monthly, or annually. Service Desk Cost Per Month does not fluctuate greatly from month to month, with the possible exception of the use of contract labour during peak periods. Service Desk Contacts Per Month however will fluctuate more, which can give is metric the appearance of fluctuation.
How Do I Change It?
For general comments on investing or cost control, see Service Desk Cost Per Month.
Note also, however, that Service Desk Cost Per User Per Month can also be increased or reduced by Service Desk Contacts Per User Per Month. The more often users call, the more the Service Desk will cost "per user". Therefore this metric will be reduced by call avoidance strategies such as self service, whereas [[[service-desk:cost-per-contact | Service Desk Cost Per Contact] will not, and could even be increased.
Dangers, Traps, & Pitfalls
If you view Service Desks purely as a cost, the next question is likely to be "how can we reduce this cost?" This may, however, be only part of the financial picture. If a Service Desk can can help a user resolve a problem in 10 minutes which might otherwise have lost them an hour of working time, then it has been a net benefit to organisation. Further, if the Service Desk call costs the IT organisation $10, whereas the employee's time costs $100 per hour, then overall the organisation saves money by having a responsive Service Desk.
How Is It Related To Other Measures?
In progress.
Public Domain Sources
In progress.
